In India women have been coloring their hair since ancient times. However, Indian women usually relied on herbal products and concoctions to add color and bounce to their hair. The trend for Indian women has always been to sport long and dark hair.

However, in recent years, there has been a shift of tastes and many Indian women and men now opt for lighter hair colors or for hair highlights or lowlights. Lowlights and highlights involve the same process of hair coloring but lowlights are less damaging as the color required is darker and closer to the individual’s natural hair color. Still, any kind of highlights in hair require the use of chemical hair-lightening agents like bleach or hydrogen peroxide and these are very strong and potent substances. Besides the darker the hair, the more potent the chemical would have to be. Hence Indian hair requires highlights for dark brown hair and highlights for dark hair.

Highlights work best on layered hair cuts as only such haircuts emphasize the colors to their best advantage. If you are planning to get a haircut, ask the hairdresser to cut your hair before commencing the highlighting process as it would bring the cost of the treatment down if you are reducing the length of your hair.

One obvious advantage that one experiences when one highlights hair, is that layers in the hair become more noticeable. Another advantage is that highlights can highlight one’s complexion. But on the other hand having a powerful treatment like hair highlights can leave your hair in bad shape and hence it is important to get such treatments done by professionals with ample practice in the area. There are many aspects of hair highlighting like conditioning the hair amply before and after hair highlights that are very important to maintain the health of your hair.

There are many newer trends of hair highlights in style today. For instance, some individuals even get up to three different shades of highlights in their hair at one time. Pink hair tips are another popular fad even in India but this is too radical a style to be accepted by the masses in a traditional and conservative culture. Generally such outlandish hairstyles first become popular with the socialites and then youngsters and teenagers follow suit and try such new and daring hairstyles.

The white streak is another popular hair highlighting trend that is a big hit overseas. The style usually involves streaking one small clump of hair – usually right above the forehead – white.

In India, very few people have experimented with this hair style perhaps because Indian people still associate white hair with old age and hence to many of them, even just one streak of white hair lends the image of an elderly person.

Two key points to remember while getting highlights are:
• Highlighting dark hair is usually more expensive than highlighting lighter hair because more chemical is required in the former case.

• Highlighting can be damaging to hair quality, so condition the hair appropriately to maintain its health and moisture.